LONDON – Online luxury fashion retailer Farfetch sold over half a billion pounds worth of good across its platform last year, new accounts show.

Gross merchandise value, which measures the value of all goods sold, rose by 81% to £547.9 million in 2016, according to accounts filed with Companies House. Revenue rose by 74% to £151.3 million, while losses rose by 18% to £34 million.

London-headquartered Farfetch is an e-commerce platform for luxury boutiques from around the world. The global elite can virtually shop at over 500 shops in locations such as London, New York, and Paris.

Founder and CEO Jose Neves said in an emailed statement: “Farfetch is a fast-growing company, at an exciting stage in its journey, with over 21 million visits to our websites every month and relationships with over 500 partner boutiques and 200 brands.

“Our trajectory of rapid growth and substantial investment continued in 2016, and we are pleased to have seen 81% growth in gross merchandise value, as well as strong growth, of 74%, in revenues.”

£12 million of Farfetch’s revenue came from the UK, £40 million came from Europe, and the remaining £98 million came from the rest of the world. Farfetch said in accounts that it now gets 21 million visits per month to its website.

Neves said: “Our programme of investment is designed to support the company’s ambitious growth plans, and over the year we focused our investments on technology, as well as customer acquisition and hiring to support our growth. We have very strong foundations in place and will continue to invest and grow our business as we build the definitive technology platform for the luxury industry.”

UK employee numbers rose from 189 in 2015 to 233 last year. Globally, the company employs over 1,900 people. The highest-paid UK director, who is not named, made £272,044 last year.